Johan Ekroos

Research areas and keywords

Keywords

Research

My research falls under the following three main categories:

1. Landscape ecology. Why are some organisms able to persist in heavily transformed landscapes, whereas others disappear? And why should we care about it in the first place? Increasing land-use intensity has resulted in simplified landscapes with little natural and semi-natural habitats, which has had consequence in particular for species with poor mobility and specific habitat requirements. In my research I explore why certain species disappear using trait-based approaches, and by comparing different taxa characterised by contrasting ecological requirements against each other. In addition, I explore the links between biodiversity and ecosystem functions, in particular pollination success of wild plants

2. Environmental science. Maximising specific ecosystem services, in particular provisioning services, often reduces other ecosystem services, in particular regulating and supporting services. For this reason trade-offs often appear between land-use strategies promoting various ecosystem services or biodiversity conservation. Today the issue is further complicated by an increasing need to implement adaptation strategies for climate change in land-use decisions. Given these fundamental trade-offs, we need to optimise land-use in production landscapes to reach multiple societal goals, including production of food and fibre, protecting biodiversity and enhancing multiple ecosystem services in a changing climate.

3. Interdisciplinary environmental research.Given trade-offs between land-use strategies and conflicting societal needs, it becomes increasingly important to inform decision-making based on the evidence base generated within conservation biology and landscape ecology. Answering such questions demands strong collaboration between researchers in different disciplines. I have pursued such questions together with economists, sustainability scientists and governance scientists. I am particularly interested in the relationship between adopted measures in agri-environment schemes and the existing evidence on the efficacy of farmland conservation interventions targeting biodiversity and ecosystem services.